Music is supposed to bring people together, but not at a bar in Pointe Claire.
The owners of the Pioneer bar lost their liquor licence and were told the only way to get it back was to ban rap and hip hop bands.
Diane Marois repurchased the Pioneer in December and was operating with a temporary alcohol permit.
Montreal police stepped in after the bar tried to book a performance by a group of hip hop musicians.
Police say the event was targetted by street gangs, and even though the show was cancelled, the Department of Alcohol decided to yank the bar's licence unless it agreed to never again host hip hop or rap acts.
"I'm at the point I've been closed for two months, I've lost an awful lot of revenue," said Marois.
Many say this is an attempt to stop street gangs.
Others say this is blatant racial profiling.
"First of all it criminalizes black hip hop culture, secondly it may deprive many hip hop artists and DJs, many of whom are black, from earning their economic activities," said Fo Niemi of the Centre for Research on Race Relations.
Niemi said it is not the first time he's heard of police plotting against certain musical styles, while customers are shocked that police can dictate what type of music is performed at a bar.
"You can't simply take all of hip hop and all of rap and say that it's all bad it's just too broad of a stroke," said one customer.
Faced with declining sales Marois finally agreed to the police department's conditions, and says she will concentrate on bringing in a different type of customer.
"I do want to get an older clientele and hip hop would not be bringing in older people," said Marois.
